More than 100 delegates from Europe, Australia, Brazil and southern Africa met at the Solar Water Heating Summit to share insights, experiences and financing models for Solar Water Heaters.

Five years ago, southern African delegates met in Pretoria to launch the Southern African Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) secretariat , consider the energy needs of the region and lament the lack of interest, finance and commitment. at the end of March , delegates presented project report-backs rather than proposals, and considered budgets spent rather than budgets sought.

Particularly impressive was the work being done in Kenya, Namibia, Botswana through a national commitment to roll out the use of renewable energy as a mechanism for sustainable growth in this energy crisis. With rapidly increasing demands on our local and regional electricity infrastructure, government has a challenging task of using our resources as best as possible, to ensure continued and sustainable growth for Africa’s future. An increased use of solar water heating will provide hot water required for our homes and the economy. In so doing, increased utilisation of SWH will facilitate job creation and enable demand side management, a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, as well as a reduction in the reliance on the electricity network.International speakers at the Summit included David Rossiter from the Australian Renewable Energy Regulator, who discussed the successes and failures of the large-scale implementation of SWH’s through using renewable energy certificates (REC’s); Delcio Rodrigues of the Vitae Civilis Institute, Sao Paulo, who discussed the successes and failures of SWH bylaws in Brazil, and the SWH sale-of-energy model; and Jared Atiang of the African Energy Policy Research Network in Kenya, who gave a presentation to the importance of sustainable growth through an energy crisis with a focus on cities. REEEP is an international initiative backed by more than 200 national governments, businesses, development banks and NGOs, to enhance the levels of integration of renewable energy and energy efficient systems into national and global energy systems

The presentations are available to download in the resources section or on the Solar Water Heating Summit 2007 Website.